The rule that makes NBA stars shine less

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During his past 10 NBA seasons,

has thrown an average of 10 free throws per game.

In 2019/2020, his last complete with the Rockets, he peaked, nearly 12,800 in total in his 68 games.

Taking into account that it is not far from 90% correct, the result was almost 10 guaranteed points per night that, suddenly, have disappeared.

Harden was the paradigm of that trend from which guys like

also made good profits

.

They are undoubtedly the hardest hit by a symptomatic rule change and they all have one aspect in common that makes what is happening fueling controversy: talented losers, defenders win.

Although this time it seems that with justice.

Returning to the example of

, in his peculiar offensive arsenal that owes so much to the intelligent use of his physique, actions of feints and unnatural crashes were included that are now not penalized in the NBA.

It was common to see him fake a shot and pounce himself at the defender: a safe bet to visit the free throw line.

So what has happened to make Harden no longer do the trick, so that fewer free throws are taken than ever before in the NBA, so that several stars have seen their numbers reduced alarmingly?

The fault has a rule.

the one that the NBA has begun to apply this season and that monitors those pitches on three levels with a sideways glance at the opponent.

It is not penalized when the shooter lunges or leans towards the defender at an abnormal angle, when he extends his leg to seek contact or when he abruptly deviates from his path, to the sides or back, seeking the impact with the defender.

"It's great for the game"

The numbers speak emphatically, the losers protest - Lillard, for example, averages 10 points less - and the winners celebrate. Others, like

, adapt. "Obviously it's much better to watch basketball. I liked them when it worked for me. In the first preseason game I tried to force a foul. You just have to get rid of that momentum. I found out there are other options. It's great for the game. "The Warriors star, who has

, one of the best and most aggressive defenders in the NBA,

has in his loutish teammate, acknowledged the

great supporter of the new norm.

"Can I also say how satisfying it is to watch basketball without all those shitty fouls? There were guys who were cheating, grabbing rivals and fouling. I'm enjoying watching basketball this year," the power forward pronounced on a rule that begins to be noticed.

So far this year, there are five points less per team than the previous season (from 112 to 107) and fewer free throws are taken per team than ever before in history, not because fewer fouls are called, but because those that are called. they are not in shooting actions.

Wendell CruzUSA TODAY Sports

"The fouls are fouls," complains a Harden who visits the free line much less (just over five per game, for now) and who has dropped his score by six points. "I feel that when I get to the games, everything is predetermined and that I have that stigma. I tell the referees that if they see it, they should whistle it. I only ask that they whistle what they see." And

, his coach at the Nets, defends him: "It is unfair that he is put as the poster boy when it comes to not pointing out these types of fouls. Some are still fouls, but they are so alert that he has become in the image of this type of decision ".

Nor does Trae Young like him, who went from shooting nine free throws to just over four. What's more. The percentage of success in the triples has also suffered in general: it is at 34.2% and since the 1998/1999 season it was not so low, although the change of the ball may influence here (for the first time in decades it is not Spalding but Wilson). And, a more forceful data: only two of the 15 top scorers of the past season have not seen their number of points reduced in the current one. "I do not want to be fined, but it is frustrating, there are many fouls that are not whistled. When the players penetrate and go in a straight line, the defender unbalances them with his body and hands and that is still a foul," confessed the base. In frustration, the Hawks star grabbed a referee last week and was fined $ 15,000.

Finally, perhaps

reflection

is the most appropriate.

The coach of the team, the Warriors, who has revolutionized basketball most offensively in recent years, admits the wrongdoing and celebrates the correction.

"We were throwing too many free throws, getting a lot of 'two plus one.'

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